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Ok. So I realize all of you are going to get a good laugh about this post, but what the hell. So from what I understand, all you guys are doing is going into the pre-existing programming code, and enabling or disabling certain features that are already programmed, but not enabled through certain commands. Unless I am wrong, no one is actually writing new programming code. So here is the question, if all that is happening is that you are enabling functionality that already exists (or disabling it as the case may be), for God's sake, why doesn't BMW just make these features part of the settings that we have access to through the Idrive Nav screen. I mean, its not like we already can't change a million things...why not make it 2 million. Or would it make the car setup process just too confusing and overpowering for the average Joe? I can't see why BMW cares if we want to be able to push a button on our key fob and simultaneously lock the doors and fold the side view mirrors. Or show some specific information on the HUD, or whatever. If I am wrong and you all are actually writing new programming code, then I apologize. But that's not what it sounds like. It sounds like you are just inputing certain already existing commands to cause something different to happen than what is "hard wired" as a default.

No, you're not wrong.

As to why? I'm assuming it's a combination of different things. But I would say that the overriding reason is the litigious nature of the US. Things that might be enabled are disabled for "safety's' sake.

@DreamCar; Good deal. Put that baby online (so people can find all my mistakes)!

@Itinj6; I believe with Active Cruise Control, a pre-defined distance to the vehicle ahead can be set as a number of seconds (reaction time), and my guess is the iBrake Distance Info would display that setting.

@ alex_c; That cable with the ODB-USB Port will likely work with some diagnostic applications / tools; however, for Coding in E-Sys, it has to be an RJ45 Network Connection with IP Assignment.

In general, weekdays are a bitch for me, but I have baseball playoffs pretty much everynight next week, which would make it impossible. I can probably do something Saturday or Sunday, although that may be a problem for jjsC6 and his motorcycle.

I don't doubt that your cable says it will work with the F-series cars, and it will. The bad news is you're going to have to buy an ICOM for it to work, and even then in a very limitied capacity.

All the F-series vehicles (except 123d if I remember right) use E-Sys to program and the program expects to communicate using IP addresses. The cars have a pseudo DHCP server that issues an IP address to you computer, so our computers know how communication is going to occur. Now this connection can be done one of two ways but they are both IP address dependent. Either you use the ENET cable that most of us build and your NIC card does most of the translating through E-Sys, or your ICOM is issued the IP address and it does the translation through E-Sys but using it's interface. The D-CAN cable (I can't see yours perfectly, but it looks like that's what you have) will also only diagnose the F-series vehicles through an ICOM , clone or VM ICOM using IPNA.

The truth is we all need to get used to our vehicles using IP addresses as BMW and other car manufacturers switch over to the ASAM MCD-2D standard (Open Data eXchange). BMW even spent the time to port EDIABAS over to allow it to communicate via ENET, and that was so they could talk to the CIC in the E9X.

The other strange thing is the part number they are using. If it is a true BMW part number, then the cable you have should be a CIC Connecting Wire.

@ImSW1; Maybe it is just me, but the Integration Level Table while informative is confusing as it relates to E-Sys, as when I look at it, one would not know that to code an F12 in E-Sys, one would use the F10 psdzdata or to code an F30, one would use the F20 psdzdata. Maybe I'm just missing something.

I build these by hand because I have network cable available by the roll. That being said, I believe that so long as you can see the colors of the twisted pair through the RJ-45 then cutting the end of a patch cable is the easiest method because half the work is already done.

It's really not that expensive either. You can get a decent 10 ft patch for $6-$7, throw a OBD2 connector in there $4.99, an RJ-45 and a resistor $1.00 each (worst case) and maybe $5 in shipping getting it all to you and your cable cost you $18.99. Not a bad deal if you consider it would have cost you $100+ to activate DVD in motion.

I saw one item in the initial thread about "always remember air circulation".

Is there any way to set the air circulation on a timer? One thing that drives me bananas about this car is that if you put the air to recirculate, it won't turn off. Or is this what that means? I assumed it was for startup.

Seriously, if there is any way to have the circulation go off after, say, 10 minutes, that would be great!!!